Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogen that causes a diverse array of mucosal and deep tissue infections. The overall goal of this project is to develop an anti-Candida vaccine. The goal of this subproject is to identify Candida albicans gene products that are the best targets against which to develop vaccines. Our strategy and rationale are as follows: 1. We will identify Candida albicans genes that are expressed during infection, based upon screening of random gene fusions. Comparison of junction sequences to the Candida albicans genomic sequence will permit identification of likely secreted, cell wall, and transmembrane proteins, which should be available for interaction with immunoglubulins. Genes that specific such proteins constitutes out set of vaccine target candidate (VTC) genes 2 Epitope-tagging and immunofluorescence analysis will be used to verify expression and surface localization of each VTC gene product. 3. The potential of an anti-VTC immune response to protect against infection will be assessed in anti-epitope reconstruction experiments. Mice immunized with a peptide epitope will be challenged with Candida albicans strains that express individual epitope-tagged VTC gene products, and outcome of infection will be determined by host viability and tissue burden.